Eric was named the Chief Information Officer in October 2020. Prior to joining the department, he managed a private IT consulting firm and served as the Chief of Service Operations at the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles where he led complex technical project implementations and operations. Eric earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Applied Social Science degrees from Florida A&M University. Eric also holds several professional certifications which include the Certified Information Security Manager, Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer, Project Management Professional, Certified Public Manager, and a Florida Certified Contract Manager.

A proven, passionate leader with over 30 years experience within the telecommunications industry. Extensive experience supporting cross functional teams both domestic and international. In his current role at T-Mobile Bob has the privilege of leading their southeast solutions engineering team.

Tony is a senior solution consultant at Adobe and has extensive experience supporting complex solution applications. His contributions have helped Federal, State and Local governments maximize their technology to help their citizens live better lives. Prior to joining Adobe, Tony was a solution architect with Accenture.

Mike Driessen joined Government Technology in 2021 as the VP of Subscription Services, where he is responsible for managing execution, strategy and operations for all recurring revenue services. He also oversees Navigator, a market and sales intelligence tool for private-sector SLED teams, and Techwire and Industry Insider – Texas Edition, each of which provide daily news and insights into the California and Texas GovTech markets.
Mike brings over 25 years of experience in the IT consulting and systems integration industry with firms like Accenture, Grant Thornton and Hitachi Consulting. His experience covers Sales and Marketing leadership, advising on Digital Strategies, and managing Enterprise Application alliances and implementations. He has managed large global teams and led start-ups. Mike lives in Los Angeles, although he grew up in the Midwest, and graduated from Marquette University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Business Administration.

Jayson is a public sector technology subject matter expert with 20 years of city and county government experience. Prior to joining AWS Jayson served as the Chief Information Officer for the City of Cincinnati where he led the city’s enterprise technology department, chaired the city’s IT Governance Board, and managed the city’s capital budget and project approval processes. Jayson also has a background in public safety technology having served as a county 911 and Emergency Communications Director, as well as experience in the private sector as a Business Analysis Manager responsible for technology contracts and procurements totaling $350 million in annually.

Joe Forte brings with him over 25 years of experience in the U.S. Public Sector market. He has held leadership positions with AT&T, Cisco, WWT and VMware covering State, Local government, and Education. Joe also has extensive experience leading business strategy relating to Cloud and AI platform transitioning. Joe is also an executive Board member of Operation Song, working to help veterans and their families cope with PTSD and related issues.

Glendora was named Chief Information Officer in November of 2022. Prior to joining the Legislature, She spent ten years with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). While at FDOT, Glendora led efforts to establish and execute cloud infrastructure and development strategy which helped accelerate FDOT’s move to a cloud environment, while also furthering development of enterprise services, service management, and enterprise architecture.
Glendora began her career as a computer programmer at the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV). From DHSMV, she then moved to take on additional opportunities with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). In total, she spent more than sixteen years with these two agencies, gaining skills and knowledge with each promotion.
Glendora is a collaborative leader, who believes that results are not about the technology; but rather how the business is progressing by utilizing the technology.
Glendora graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Management Information Systems. She also maintains professional certifications including: Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Public Manager (CPM), Certified Scrum Master (CSM), and Florida Certified Contract Manager (FCCM).

Tommy Gardner is HP’s Chief Technology Officer for HP Federal, spanning the US Federal Agencies, Higher Education, K-12 Education, State and Local government customer segments, as well as Federal Systems Integrators. His current responsibilities include technology leadership, strategic technology plans, product and technology strategies, sales force technical support, and customer and partner relationships.
Previously, Tommy has served as the Chief Technology Officer for Jacobs Engineering, Scitor, and ManTech. Earlier in his career he was a senior technical executive at Raytheon. In the U.S. Navy he served as the Deputy for Science and Technology for the Chief of Naval Research. He oversaw the Navy’s Deep Submergence Program as well as its Advanced Technology Program. He also commanded the nuclear submarine, USS San Juan (SSN 751).
Tommy’s educational background covers multiple disciplines and fields of interest including: cybersecurity, data science, blockchain, quantum information science, artificial intelligence, high performance computing and systems integration.
Tommy holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University, an M.S. in Management of Technology from MIT and a Ph. D. in Energy Economics from George Washington University. He is a Professional Engineer, an ASME Fellow, and serves on the ASME Board of Governors, the ANSI Board of Directors and the U. S. Council on Competitiveness as the Co-chair of the Advanced Computer Roundtable.

Russell has been helping governments innovate and improve their operations through the cutting-edge application of technology for more than 25 years. Working in both the public and private sectors, he has created, implemented and supported advanced applications and technology for local governments serving hundreds of thousands of citizens and customers across the United States.
Most recently, he has concentrated on implementing an aggressive roadmap for digital business improvement as the CTO and Director of Technology and Innovation for the City of Tampa- Florida’s tech capital. With a priority on getting the right tools and technology for expanded service, improved reliability, and open data sharing for the departments he serves, the City has implemented and upgraded more systems in the past five years than the 15 before.
Russell has a bachelor of business administration degree with a major in management from Florida Atlantic University. He trained in performance management with a past Florida Governor’s Sterling Award winner and is a past examiner for Illinois Performance Excellence (ILPEx), an organization that assists governments, hospitals, manufacturers and other businesses to implement the continuous improvement management model using the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. He is also a 2018 honoree of the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s CIO of the Year award and a 2022 Florida CIO of the Year 2022 enterprise finalist.
When he’s not at work, he’s probably out on a long run, training for the next Gasparilla Distance Classic.

Jamey Heary is the Chief Security Architect at Cisco Systems where he leads the Global Security Architecture Team. Jamey is a trusted security advisor and architect for many of Cisco’s largest and most strategic customers. His passion is consulting with customers on security design and architecture with a focus on integration for better together protection. Jamey is the author of three security books, holds patents on risk reputation techniques and also invented the SAFE security architecture process. He is a sought-after speaker for cybersecurity events and is a Cisco Live distinguished speaker. Jamey spent 8 years on the PCI Standard Board of Advisors. He is a CCIE and has been working in the IT security field for over 25 years. Jamey lives in Florida where he enjoys boating, scuba diving and travel.

Arthur Higbee is a Managing Director with KPMG’s Transformation Delivery service line. He has 25 years of experience working with Federal, State and Local governments, as well as global commercial clients on the implementation of their largest transformational programs. From an emphasis on human-centered design, change management, and agile project delivery, Arthur leads projects with a relentless focus on outcomes that include digitizing government service delivery, elevating customer experience, automating operations. He has helped government implement complex, citizen-centric programs that require collaboration among a variety of stakeholders. Arthur is both PMP and SAFe Agile certified, and his experience spans Federal, State and Local governments.

Robin was named Deputy Chief Information Officer in June of 2021. She has also served as the Information Security Manager since joining DBPR in 2014. Robin is a proven information security and project management professional with success in creating and implementing processes and systems necessary for maintaining confidentiality, availability and integrity of data. Prior to working at DBPR, she worked at the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Health, Tallahassee Community College, Florida State University, and McNeil Technologies in roles ranging from disaster preparedness to information security. Government Technology, in collaboration with the Agency for State Technology, recognized Robin as the 2017 Florida Excellence in Technology State IT Person of the Year.

Nick Lenaues is a Managing Advisor for Red Hat in State and Local Government. He has helped the Public Sector succeed with Application Modernization, Cloud, Automation at Scale and Software Defined Everything. Prior to Red Hat, Nick has been instrumental in driving customer success across Public and the Private Sector with emerging technologies to evolve towards secure software supply chain, implementing infrastructure as code, cloud automation, API Management, CDN/Cache, load balancing, infrastructure automation and security and compliance. He is a regular public speaker for Red Hat in State and Local Government at various events nationally. He graduated from North Carolina State University with a BSEE with AI concentration and initially was in software development, then product management before switching over to his current professional passion of advising around emerging technology and why it even matters.

Lihn currently works at IBM, where she leads business design strategy on large-scale IT modernization engagements with IBM's public sector clients – including state and local government agencies, airports, universities, and public-school districts. She brings service design principles and participatory design methodologies into human-centered design workshops with diverse client stakeholders and IBM experts to co-create minimum viable (read: lovable) solutions that solve our clients' thorniest challenges.

Joseph was named DBPR’s Chief Information Officer in May of 2016. Prior to his current position, Joseph managed the Enterprise and Business Systems Engineering Services team since he joined DBPR in April of 2011. He is a native Floridian, who was born on Naval Air Station Pensacola and raised in Central Florida before he started working with the State at Florida State University in 1999. Joseph spent 10 years at the Florida Department of Health in roles ranging from Helpdesk and Systems Administration to IT Security and Disaster Preparedness Consulting.

In 2006, Scott accepted the appointment as CIO for the Florida House of Representatives. Scott guided the development of the legislature’s first “app,” which debuted in March 2013, and garnered 5-star reviews and more than 3,500 downloads before being decommissioned in 2017. Scott served in this role until his retirement in August 2022.
In March 2001, Scott was appointed Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the Florida Department of Corrections. Under Scott’s tenure, the Department’s Office of Information Technology won seventeen (17) Davis Productivity Awards from Florida TaxWatch for innovation and excellent stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
In 1999, Governor Jeb Bush asked Scott to return to public service and create Team Florida 2000, Florida’s statewide Y2K preparedness effort. The largest IT project in Florida’s history, TF2K garnered several state and national awards. TF2K’s statewide critical infrastructure and disaster recovery methodology were used extensively in the weeks following 9/11.

Mr. Merritt is a US Naval Veteran who is an industry veteran in Networking and Collaboration technologies. Over the years he’s built up a solid brand as a customer advocate who loves solving business challenges through the creative use of technology. His experience in Florida State government ranges from working with the court systems to implement connected justice to providing for automated self-service capabilities for municipal utilities. As an employee of the State University System, he was a recipient of multiple awards (Such as the Davis Productivity Award) for programs saving the university system millions of dollars over time. A passionate advocate for helping County Health Departments, City/County Governments, and other State agencies Mr. Merritt brings his experience to bear to continue to solve challenging and complex business problems.

Ranadheer Mettu has been working with Data for more than 10 years and helping Public Sector Customers for the last 8 years, providing solutions to address the challenges with large scale data processing, data governance, predictive analytics and AI/ML use cases. Ranadheer led the FL Vaccine Pre-registration solution and helped the solution come to life in 4 weeks. Combined with prior experience in the Financial services industry, Ranadheer developed a deep understanding of the nuances of creating a robust data solutions.

Keith Eric Pruett is a native of Bluefield, WV. He attended Carson Newman University in Jefferson City, TN, on a football scholarship. He graduated with a Political Science degree and commissioned into the Army in May of 2001. In December of 2015 he received his Master of Liberal Arts degree from Arizona State University and completed the Army Command and General Staff College. He last served as the Professor of Military Science at Florida State University from 2017-2021, ending with his retirement from active duty.
Starting in the fall of 2021, Keith was hired by the Florida Digital Service. There he serves as the Emergency Support Function-20 (ESF-20) coordinator for the state. His primary role focusses on coordination with the State Emergency Response Team Chief and the Emergency Operations Center for all cybersecurity and digital responses during state emergency operations.
Prior to coming to Florida State Keith served as the Deputy G4 for the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command located on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. While there, he served an individual assignment tour in Kabul, Afghanistan from October 2015 through May 2016. In July of 2013 he was selected to serve as the XO for the 833d Transportation Battalion at Ft Eustis, VA. From Jan 2012-July 2013 he was the detachment commander for the 690th Rapid Port Opening Element, also at Ft. Eustis, VA. His units conducted six highly successful Joint Task Force-Port Opening (JTFPO) COCOM-level exercises as USTRANSCOM's alert JTF-PO Surface Element. Repeatedly USTRANSCOM leadership recognized the unit for having the best cargo throughput operations seen to date. Prior to his arrival to the 690th he served as the Air Mobility Officer for US Army Pacific (USARPAC) G4 Mobility Division at Ft. Shafter, Hawaii. As the Air Mobility Officer he was responsible for the coordination for both cargo and personnel flights throughout the Pacific region. MAJ Pruett traveled to 9 different countries in support of both Pacific Command (PACOM) and USARPAC exercises. Exercises such as Joint Exercise Talisman Sabre in Australia, Cobra Gold in Thailand, and Balikatan in The Philippines saw him serve as the exercise Joint Movement Control Officer In-Charge. He was also hand selected by the USARPAC G4 to travel to Ulaanbataar, Mongolia and teach US Army Logistics to the Mongolian Armed Forces. Before this tour of duty in Hawaii, he was the senior BDE Logistics officer and advisor on a Military Transition Team (MiTT), embedded with 4th BDE, 1 DIV of the Iraqi Army. His transition team navigated over 300 convoys, 200 combat missions and logged thousands of miles in combat operations throughout the Diyala Province of Iraq, an operating area of over 1200 square miles. As a Captain, he was the S3 for the 838th Transportation Terminal Battalion (SDDC) in Rotterdam, the Netherlands for two years and was the 2006 recipient for the General Del Mar SDDC Junior Officer of the Year Award. Keith served as the lead for SDDC’s implementation for Deployment and Distribution Support Teams in Europe. He was also the first operations officer for the 840th Transportation Battalion (SDDC) when they established permanent location in Balad, Iraq. He was later the first SDDC LNO to Multi National Corps-Iraq (MNC-I) in Baghdad. In his first duty assignment as a Lieutenant, he served as platoon leader for both a HET-T platoon and a medium truck platoon for Bravo Company, 703rd Main Support Battalion (MSB), and the SPO Transportation Officer at Ft. Stewart, GA, culminating with his deployment to the Middle East for what became OIF I. During the entire operation, Keith’s platoon supported the distribution supplies to the Division, conducting over 230 convoy operations and contributed greatly to his company's over 250,000 operational miles. He became the Professor of Military Science at Florida State University in 2017.
Keith is the youngest of three children. He and his wife, Chantel, from Clearwater, Florida, have been married for 17 years. They have a nine-year old son, Baylor, and a five-year old daughter, Lena.
His military decorations include the Bronze Star (2 OLC), Meritorious Service Medal (2 OLC), the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal (3 OLC), the Army Achievement Medal (1 OLC), the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War On Terrorism Service Medal, the Global War On Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Operation Iraqi Freedom Campaign Medal (4 Campaign stars), Overseas service ribbon, the Army Service Ribbon and the NATO Service Medal. His units have also received the Presidential Unit Citation Award, the Meritorious Unit Award and the Valorous Unit Award (1 OLC). He also received a Combat Action Badge for actions in support of OIF. Additionally, he received a 2022 Florida IT Leadership Forum, Outstanding IT Manager Award, due to his efforts during Hurricane Ian relief efforts.

Adam Robyak serves as a Field CTO & Principal Engineer at Dell Technologies. He has more than 25 years of experience in the IT industry, including nine years as CEO of his own consulting firm. During his career, Adam has gained extensive experience with Healthcare, Retail, SLED, and Manufacturing & Logistics. In his current role, Adam brings thought leadership across a variety of areas of focus. With a wealth of knowledge in emerging technologies such as data management, AI/ML, and IoT/Edge, Adam looks to help customers solve complex business objectives and challenges. Adam is a founding member of both the Pathfinder Team and the Blockchain Steering Committee within Dell Technologies, holds a role as a Dell Technologies CTO Ambassador and CTO Ambassador Steering Group member, and co-leads a team focused on business outcomes and leadership within Dell Technologies called TechCrusaders. Adam currently holds a US Patent in blockchain and distributed ledger technology.

Herb is a Senior State, Local and Education Strategist. Having history in various government CIO roles he is responsible for assisting customers achieve their strategic outcomes through understanding their business issues and how policy, process and technology can impact business outcomes. He has been sharing best practices learned from around the country on optimization, workforce modernization and leveraging the cloud. He also provides insight in practical implementations of shared services, engaging employees, smart communities, and executing a cloud strategy at many government conferences.
Prior to joining in 2018, VMware Herb served as the State of Wisconsin Deputy State CIO and CTO, CIO for Health and Family Services and CIO for Corrections.

Scott Weisman is the Tallahassee-Leon County Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Program Coordinator. The GIS program is a partnership with Leon County Government, City of Tallahassee, and the Leon County Property Appraiser’s Office. He has worked for local government in the GIS field in various capacities for the last 29 years and has been in his current role for the last 10 years. Scott also serves as an adjunct instructor at Florida State University in the Geography\Masters Geographic Information Science Program. He earned a Bachelor of Science at Florida State University in Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, along with a Certificate in Planning Studies. Scott also holds a Master of Science in Geographic Information Science and is a graduate of the Florida Certified Public Manager Program through the Florida Center for Public Management at the Florida State University.